Wenn die Technologie die Gebärmutter übernimmt: Kann die Schwangerschafts- und Gebärdenskrise der Frauen gelöst werden?

"I Am Mother" tells the story of a young girl raised by an artificial intelligence named "Mother" against the backdrop of post - apocalyptic human extinction. This is a "Black Mirror"-style experiment on motherly love, exploring the boundaries of human and AI survival.

Are you afraid of having children? Or rather, are you troubled by the idea of having children?

It doesn't matter. There's big news in the tech field recently: "A robot mother priced no higher than 100,000 yuan will be available within a year."

The source of this news comes from an interview with Dr. Zhang Qifeng, a doctor from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. In the video, he revealed several points during his conversation with the host:

First, it doesn't matter if young people are reluctant to get married. In the future, they will have "robot wives".

Second, an artificial womb will be implanted in the abdomen of the "robot wife".

Third, this robot can go through the same "ten - month pregnancy" process as human women. Its abdomen will bulge, and it will give birth.

Doesn't it sound like "Westworld"? And if this comes true, the situation of all those troubled by childbearing will change completely.

Take the group of people in need of assisted reproduction as an example. Based on the data released by multiple IVF assisted hospitals, the average cost of successfully conceiving through assisted reproductive technologies like in - vitro fertilization far exceeds 100,000 yuan. According to the undercover information from Beijing Traffic Radio in 2024, the cost of a surrogacy without gender selection is at least 750,000 yuan.

In comparison, robot surrogacy can almost be called the "Pinduoduo" in the field of childbearing. Those men and women sitting in the infertility department and those women worried about not being able to get promoted or get a raise because of childbearing can immediately dispel their concerns and happily welcome their children.

However, in fact, those who pay a little attention to reproductive technologies know that this is still just a fantasy in the tech world.

Current medical technology is far from being able to "replace the uterus" with a machine. The human uterus remains the most precise "baby - making machine" in the world. The "robot mother" will only exist in science - fiction movies for a long time to come.

However, although this is false, it's not excessive to imagine: Assuming that a "robot mother" capable of replacing human childbearing appears, will it free women trapped in childbearing? If robots can give birth to children in batches in the future, how will the parent - child relationship evolve?

Is it feasible to let robots have children?

If we were to select the "Top 10 Fake News in 2025", "The robot mother will be available within a year" might top the list.

In fact, shortly after this news came out, Zhang Qifeng himself clarified under a "Q&A" on WeChat (the "Q&A" was deleted soon after). The general meaning was that self - media outlets were sensationalizing. The "robot mother" is a project developed abroad, and the "Guangzhou Kawaii Robot Technology Co., Ltd." led by Zhang Qifeng only cooperated on the part of the simulation robot body.

In other words, the widely spread news of "The robot mother will be available within a year" was not Zhang Qifeng's original intention. What he originally wanted to describe might be the robot body part.

▲ B - ultrasound image of a pregnant woman during pregnancy

If we carefully analyze it, we'll find that the "robot mother" mainly consists of two parts: a robot body and an artificial womb.

When it comes to childbearing, the artificial womb is both the key and the difficult part.

From both a technical and an ethical perspective, it's still a distant dream. The process of a human fertilized egg developing in a woman's uterus and finally being born is extremely complex and precise. It can even be said that it's too complex to be replicated.

Specifically, the placenta is an important medium for the exchange of nutrients between the mother and the fetus. In a woman's uterus, the placenta needs to constantly exchange dynamic signals with the mother. To ensure the growth of the fetus, the placenta secretes various bioactive substances and hormones and sends signals to the mother for adaptive adjustments and changes.

Currently, in relevant human experiments, attempts at artificial wombs have only been made on animals. In 2017, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in the United States kept 8 premature lambs alive outside the body for four weeks. This experimental system was named "EXTEND" (Extra - Uterine Neonatal Development System) five years later.

▲ Photo of the EXTEND experiment

It placed the lambs in a bag made of polycarbonate filled with an artificial liquid that simulates amniotic fluid and maintains osmotic pressure. Researchers connected the lambs' blood circulation to an external system through the umbilical cord and carotid artery. This external circulation device continuously supplied oxygen and nutrients to the lambs on the one hand and removed metabolic waste on the other.

The problem is that the lambs in this experiment already had umbilical cords and autonomous blood circulation before being placed in the "artificial womb". It doesn't support the initial embryo's independent implantation and establishment of a blood - supply environment.

In a paper published later by the Weizmann Institute in Israel, an attempt was also made to let mice develop through an artificial womb. However, it faced the same problem as the lamb experiment at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and couldn't let the animals be implanted in the artificial womb from the embryonic stage.

So from a technical perspective, currently, "artificial wombs" have only been experimented on animals, and the premise is that the animals already have an autonomous blood - circulation system.

Obviously, this can't be applied to human babies who need ten months to be born.

Ethically, human embryo research outside the body must not culture human embryos outside the body for more than 14 days. This regulation was proposed by the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (Warnock Committee) in 1982 and written into the "Human Embryology Act" in 1990.

In recent years, with the progress of in - vitro embryo culture technology, several countries have begun to suggest extending the in - vitro time of human embryos to 28 days.

Even so, it's still impossible to let an initial embryo develop into a newborn baby through an artificial womb, as it requires ten months of in - vitro gestation, far exceeding the time limit stipulated by ethics.

So, whether from a technical or an ethical perspective, a "robot mother" capable of allowing embryo implantation and replacing human women is ultimately just an imagination.

But if one day, this imagination becomes a reality, it will be a great blessing for child - bearing women .

Who will the robot "mother" save?

Although saviors never exist in reality, when we encounter some difficult - to - solve dilemmas, human instinct always seems to fantasize about a savior appearing to resolve everything.

For some women suffering from the pain of childbearing, the "robot mother" might be the savior they fantasize about when facing a dead - end in childbearing. Especially for many families deeply troubled by infertility, successfully getting pregnant isn't entirely solvable by science. "More often, it's about fate and luck."

"If a mature robot uterus really appears, I'd welcome it very much," Wenxin, who is preparing for pregnancy with the help of in - vitro fertilization technology, told "Youjie UnKnown". "At least I don't have to use my body to try. I've taken so many hormonal drugs. To be honest, I really don't know what kind of after - effects my body will have in the future."

Recently, Wenxin just finished her fourth egg retrieval. To make the eggs grow quickly, she had to take Clomiphene and Letrozole orally for 10 consecutive days, inject Follistim on her belly, and inject Menotropins in her buttocks. "Before each egg retrieval, I basically had to go to the hospital repeatedly, get injections every day, have blood tests for sex hormones every other day, and have B - ultrasounds to check the growth of follicles."

▲ Medicines taken by a Xiaohongshu user @Getting Better Slowly for childbearing

The biggest "abyss" is staring into an invisible black hole, not knowing when the suffering will end. Taking medicine, getting injections, retrieving eggs, taking medicine, getting injections, and having embryo transfers. This process is like a Möbius strip, repeating over and over again.

"In the reproductive department, if you loudly tell the doctor that you're pregnant, the looks you get aren't of blessing but of envy," Wenxin said. In the five years of preparing for pregnancy, her heart has become "dark".

"After all these hardships this time, I only retrieved 5 eggs." Compared with the previous three times, when she retrieved 2, 0, and 3 eggs respectively, this time was the most fruitful.

▲ Oocyte sampling needle

Egg retrieval is just the first step. Whether the eggs and sperm can form high - quality embryos is the second big hurdle. Wenxin retrieved a total of 10 eggs in these four times, but only four of them were successfully paired into embryos. "The doctor said it might be because my husband and I are older, and the quality of the combination of sperm and eggs is not high."

In addition to the four egg retrievals, Wenxin is about to undergo her fourth embryo transfer surgery. To make the uterus simulate a mature conception environment, Wenxin has to take oral medicine or get injections for half a month before each transfer and have B - ultrasounds and blood tests every two or three days.

"Every time I lie on the operating table for the embryo transfer, I feel like I'm about to make it through." But every time on the "result - checking day", the blank pregnancy test strip makes Wenxin doubt herself and feel desperate.

"I feel like I've done everything I can. I don't know if starting over will lead to a result." After four egg retrievals and three embryo transfers, Wenxin has been on the operating table seven times. She thought about giving up, but a superstitious belief that even she thinks is absurd makes her want to try one more time.

"Recently, I always see the number '4'. For example, when I look up, the time is 4:44 p.m. When I enter a mall, I see daily necessities priced at 44 yuan and small household appliances on sale for 444 yuan." "Maybe this is my lucky number." "I've had 4 egg retrievals, and if everything goes well, I'm about to have my 4th embryo transfer. Maybe this time, a miracle will happen."

Wenxin is struggling on the cliff of "unable to get pregnant". She seems unable to move forward but doesn't want to retreat either.

Qiuli, who has had 2 egg retrievals and 5 embryo transfers, has just successfully become pregnant. However, she doesn't have the joy of just being pregnant. "It's not easy to maintain the pregnancy. My blood coagulation is high, so I have to inject Heparin, which costs 300 yuan per injection, every day. I also have to receive injections to prevent uterine contractions and take various pregnancy - maintaining medicines."

Qiuli roughly calculated and found that "I've probably had four or five hundred injections. There's no more place on my belly to inject."

Xiaohongshu users with the same experience also posted pictures after getting pregnant, showing the medicines they took and the injections they had, and bitterly congratulating themselves on successfully "landing" (getting pregnant).

▲ Injections taken by a Xiaohongshu user @Raising Xiaoji for pregnancy preparation

From an economic perspective, Wenxin also joked , "The money we've spent is enough to buy several robots."

Qiuli can't even calculate how much money she's spent. "I've spent more than 200,000 yuan in a private hospital in the past two years, and I've already spent 70,000 - 80,000 yuan on pregnancy - maintaining." "I don't want to list a detailed bill because during the process, I don't know if it will succeed. Every bill is not only an eyesore but also stings my heart."

▲ A rough bill for in - vitro fertilization provided by Qiuli

In addition to the physical pain, mental and economic pressure, they also have to face the arrival of a career crisis.

"As soon as the company leader heard that I was going to do in - vitro fertilization, he thought I'd soon become a pregnant woman." After all, most people have no experience with assisted reproductive technologies and hardly know the hardships involved. Since Wenxin announced her in - vitro fertilization plan, she has been excluded from the core business of the department. "Raises and promotions are getting farther and farther away from me."

Some women choose to do it secretly to avoid the career crisis, but Wenxin thinks "this is unrealistic because once the process starts, you have to take leave almost every other day, and it's hard to explain."